For Always and Forever

Cody, believe it or not, is gifted at writing poems. I have a box full of his thoughts and I'm lucky that he is so amazing with words...I am not (Maybe he can write my vows, j/k) Anyway- the kid is super talented and I found this little poem in my ring box (and because I'm procrastinating like a champ, I figured I would share it)


I sit here and ponder,
I haven't done this in awhile.
Put my thoughts on paper,
As this box of memories makes me smile

I think about life
How lucky I could be.
Few accomplishments,
But the highlight is you and me

Everything good in my life
has stemmed simply from your presence
And as we are apart right now
I wallow in your absence

But the glimpse hope
that we will soon see one another
is that light at the end of the tunnel
As I long to see my lover.

For time is against us.
And I no longer want to leave your side.
My greatest accomplishmet one day
will be, calling you my Bride

I see not greater glory
than having you as my partner
My lover, best friend, and soulmate.
For Always and Forever.

Cody Wallis...and soon to be Mrs.

Cody: "I want to spend the rest of my life with you" *On one knee

Jamie: *Giant gasp "Are you serious right now?"

Cody: "Yes, Jamie Pyle will you Marry Me?"

Cody: "You're my best friend and I love you"

Cody: Will you..."

Jamie: *Headnod

Jamie: "Yes," "YES," "YES," *Insane amount of crying....

Yep-Cody Wallis and I are engaged and that was the little scenario that literally happened on March 17, 2012!

We are super excited and let me just tell you who was the most shocked about this engagement...ME! After dating for 6-ish years, we are taking the leap and getting married. We are shooting for May 18, 2013.

Unfortunately, he is back in Reno and I'm in 'Bama. It sucks being apart, but I know that Cody and I can make it through anything. We've proven that our relationship is insanely strong and we just fit together and we always have...even when we weren't dating.

My first memory of Cody Wallis was when my best friend, Brittney Wyrick (Moore), told me she went to a "dirt bike race" and she met him there in 6th grade. At the end of our 6th grade year, Lincoln County elementary schools took all of their 6th graders fishing at Eagle Valley. I was hanging out/fishing with Brett Barnes, believe it or not-we were buddies in elementary school, and his good 'ol buddy was Cody Wallis. Cody had a fisherman's hat on (Do you remember when those were cool??) and it had "Toad" embroidered on it.

The first time that I realized Cody Wallis was a "hottie" (Common term in 2001) was in Mr. Simkins class in the 7th grade and I kid you not, he was wearing a red FUBU shirt and black pants. I remember it so clearly! He was at the electrical board station and I was across the room...basically drooling-haha not really.

Cody and I were always friendly and "dated" (Is dating in middle school even dating???) in 8th grade and let's just say we were a little "young." However, Cody and I did have our first kiss during Labor Day in Pioche, during the fireworks. I was his first kiss...true story :) and now I'll be his last.

In high school we were both so busy with our own lives that we didn't "date," but he did always sign my yearbook with a "love ya" :) We started "real" dating our senior year. Flash forward 6 years and we are engaged, in love, and getting married!

This kid makes me ridiculously happy and I can't wait to be his wife. We laugh non-stop and have so many fetching inside jokes it's probably obnoxious to be around us. We both can get raging mad at each other and make up 5-seconds later...and our raging mad is because we like to have "debates." There have been numerous times where we had to leave the Holaks because we were shooting daggers from our eyes and by the time we got to the car we were laughing at each other. We get each other...completely and irrevocably. I love me some Wallis.

2006

2012

New Friends

I've always wondered if I moved away (from Nevada) if I would make friends OR if I would never meet anyone and I would sit in my room eating ice cream and watching movies alone. Well, I've made some pretty amazing friends these past 7 months (that's all???) and I'm truly lucky to have them in my life and *hopefully in the future :)

These girls (Left to Right...Hannah, Staci, Lauren, and duh...me) ARE FABULOUS. Now, we spend almost every waking hour together, dead serious, we are together from 8 AM-5 PM, we study together, we hang out on the weekends together, we have movie nights together, we DRIVE EACH OTHER CRAZY together, haha :) But seriously, it is a miracle that we haven't killed one another yet, but we all truly get along and they mean the world to me. However, unfortunately we are not all photogenic together...we kinda suck at taking pictures together.

A couple of weeks ago, we were all able to hang out, go bowling (when did that get so expensive??), and eat at Rojo's (YUMMY TIMES A MILLION). We kicked butt at bowling and beat Hannah's and Staci's fiances and Lauren's love bug (Yes, I'm consistently the 7th wheel cause Wallis is in Reno). We all had a blast!! It was much needed from the insanity of graduate school-DON'T EVER DO IT!!

Anyway, this post is an ode to these girlies who really have helped me find the real value of friendship and I know we will be lasting friends. It will be ooberly difficult to say 'goodbye' to them in December, but after May 2013 we will be making some money (FINALLY) and we can all go to ASHA conferences together, or I can simply fly down and vacation with them at the beach...These girls make my life here in Bama worth it!! LOVE YOU LADIES!!

School versus Real World

I've tried to always blog about the positive things in my life, however blogging is my only outlet to vent and normally I would put a snide comment on Facebook and feel better, but because I go to school with 24 other individuals and some of those girls would rat me out to my professors, I've decided to blog about the real differences between school and the real world...

Professors (the bad ones) can treat you like you're stupid, lazy, worthless, and incompitant (which in my grad program is the death sentence) and they can give "blanket" comments to the entire class in order to make ONE person feel bad or to call them out on their shit AND you can't do one thing about it. As a student you are meant to sit in your chair and be their puppets. They tell you when to speak and when not to speak (Usually they want you to speak when they are tired of teaching the class and wants the entire class to pick up her slack and have a class discussion on a particular topic).

NOW, when you talk to "adults" they say "Yeah, in the real world you have to do things you don't want to do sometimes" or "Yeah, in the real world you will run into people/bosses like that and you will have to bite your tongue"

I, for one, DO NOT AGREE! If I'm being (or say the entire class is being) attacked for ERRONEOUS and PETTY attempts to make her feel better as a professor and to justify her tests or general mismanagement of the class I WILL CALL YOU OUT and I'm professional enough to identify the real problem at hand instead of ATTACKING or BLAMING someone or an entire class for her problem. I can also do this because....I PAY FOR MY EDUCATION! I don't get paid to go to school. In the REAL-WORLD I GET PAID TO DEAL WITH THAT TYPE OF BULL CRAP! In the real world, I have deadlines, workloads, and sometimes I will have to deal with not-so-pleasent people, but I GET PAID TO DEAL WITH THAT. And if my employer has a problem with me or what I'm doing, they will have a meeting with me in private. Instead of yelling at the us for skipping her class, which is her "blanket" comment, when in reality she is critizing the students that are in class and not the students are not in class. If a professor has a problem about their attendance you need to talk to the student privately because telling the entire class doesn't help when the said students are NOT EVEN IN THE FRICKIN CLASS.

And now because of my mouth and my inability to keep quiet when I believe in something, I have a meeting with my professor today. Yay me!

School and Real World are nothing alike. IN school you are not rewarded for any effort (and to me getting good grades are not a reward, they are a proof that you worked your ass off and the professor had nothing to do with it) and you are imidiately in trouble and treated like a child in preschool if you don't think the same way as the professor and if you voice your opinion (even thought we have to listen to theirs).

Hello New Year..

A little update of my life....

I moved to Bama...AND I love it! Except I miss my friends, family, and of course WALLIS!! I have a semester of grad school under my belt and with a 4.0, just sayin' :) I have learned a lot from school and the "general" southern ways. Even though I miss my j2 like it is nobodies business, I have made some amazing x amazing new friends!!

I never expected to find great friendships here. I thought I would be a complete outcast, but these ladies and I just click. It is so nice to have healthy and mature relationships with girls. Maybe it is just me, but I tend to not get along with girls and sadly I think that may be a West coast thing....don't hate on me for my epiphany-I just find it to be true :)

I've never seen fleas before...and I'm sure majority of the West coast or Nevadans have not either...P.S. they suck and it cost me a 100 dollars to get rid of. Poor Sprocket girl was almost eaten alive!

When walking outside in during the summer, you're not actually walking...it is more like swimming because of insane humidity. And the winters...It says it is 40 degrees outside, but it feels like 40 degrees in wet clothes, which is umm..cold and much different than Reno!

Life is different here, but I feel that I am becoming a more well-rounded --and not just cause all of the fried foods :) --person and I love this experience. I can't wait until I'm done with school, but I do love this experience!

Goodbye

Goodbye Reno,

I have two days left here in Reno, Nevada and it is bittersweet. I'm running around my room trying to pack my life up and I feel like I'm going to leave something behind. Well, in fact, I am. I'm leaving 5 years of my life behind. I'm leaving friends, family, and everything I love about Reno and the Western United States.

With two days left in Reno I don't want to be packing and getting ready for this trek back to Bama, but instead I want to sit by the Truckee River with a Great White; eat at Creme, Sup, Beach Hut Deli, Deli Town, Scoopers, PubNSub, The Lil Nugget (Awful Awful..yum) and the list of restaurants go on; I want to go on the Ultimate Rush one more time; go dancing with all my girlfriends; go to one more rodeo; go snowboarding; float the river; cliff jumping; touch dry Nevada dirt; and most importantly I want more time with Cody.

I have so much to look forward to by moving to finish my last stretch of schooling before becoming a speech-language pathologist, but right now all that doesn't seem important. Right now I just want to enjoy my next two days in Reno :'(

Take care Reno! I will truly miss you and each day that I lived here.

Great food with Yummy friends

Last night I finally, which has been almost two weeks, got to hang out with my j2. Jessica and I had two episodes of The Bachelorette to watch last night (Due to copious amounts of wine we drank, we didn't get through all of them...or even one)-Anyway, I still hate Bentley with a passion and I am unable to give you a weekly update. BUT we did have some amazing food and drinks so I will give you a quick and easy dinner for a summer night.

Yummy Kabobs-

1 Red, Yellow, and Orange bell peppers

2 Red Onions

2 Portobello Mushrooms (or more if you love them like Jess and I do)

Minced garlic

Olive Oil

Optional: Chicken, Steak, Shrimp

-Chop all the veggies up into squares and put them in a large bowl with olive oil and tons of garlic. Mix everything up and make sure everything is coated in olive oil and garlic.

-Soak the wood skewers in water and then start putting the veggies on in an alternating order

-Season the chicken, beef, or shrimp to flavor or general know how. Bryan is an amazing "grill master" so he did the seasoning on the shrimp, beef, and chicken. I know he used butter for the shrimp and something a bit spicier for the beef.

-Put the meat and shrimp on the bbq first and when they have about 10 minutes left to cook put the veggies on.

We drank a cab from Trader Joe's called Velvet Moon-very yummy for 4.99 and then for dessert we had a variety of Nothing Bundt Cake's, which is a fabulous cake shop in Reno. The lemon and red velvet are my favorite! We drank Moscato with dessert, which was also from Trader Joe's and it was in the coolest bottle ever!

Jess and I had a lot of catching up to do, from my trip to Alabama to her trip to Oregon and the general updates of life. It was a great evening and I can't wait for RENO RODEO tonight. j2 will be in the JD tent having a blast for a second night in a row!!! I'm so lucky to have such a great friendship!